Ind vs Aus 4th Test: Test Drawn, Smith Player of the Series

On day 5, Smith was daring enough to declare without batting. Indians tried to chase but did not repeat Adelaide after some quick wickets fell. Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar played 11.3 overs together for 8th wicket to wipe out any hope of a win for Australia. Steven Smith earned his 2nd MOM and was rightly declared Player of the Series too.

Australia won the series 2-0, winning 12th series vs India in 24 series they have played.
Australia has now won 40 tests, India 24 tests, and 25 tests ended in a draw.
Top 5 scorers of the series: Smith (769), Kohli (692), Vijay (482), Warner (427), Rogers (417)
23 wickets in series Make Lyon the best. Shami had 13 wickets to finish 2nd best.

As Smith declared on the overnight score asking India to chase 349 runs on the last day, Indian openers started in defence. It lasted for 13 overs for 48 runs when centurion KL Rahul (16) was caught by Warner of the bowling of Lyon. Rohit Sharma (39) added 56 runs for second wicket when a stunner from Smith in Slip gave Watson his third wicket of the match. Vijay (80) took the fight on and India started chasing as he added 74 runs for third wicket with Kohli. But Vijay was caught behind on the bowling of Hazlewood and with Rahane coming in, Kohli (46) tried to accelerate chasing 6 runs an over target. But he was caught by Watson on the bowling of Starc as the score read 201/4.

With 148 runs more to go and Raina (0) taking just 3 balls to complete his pair, Rahane had no option but to get on defence. Saha followed too on a duck going lbw by Lyon and Ashwin could manage 1 run in 22 balls going lbw by Hazlewood. With 217/7, India needed to see of more than 11 overs to earn a drawn. Rahane and B Kumar managed that effectively. Both added 35 runs in 11.3 overs. Rahane remained unbeaten on 38 facing 88 balls while B Kumar remained unbeaten on 30-ball 20 runs.

The difference between yesterday and today was Australian bowling. The pitch was still not doing much. But they did not let Indians score freely. Lyon (2/110 in 30.5 overs) tried the most to get wickets. Starc (2/36 in 19 overs), Hazlewood (2/31) in 17 overs), Harris (0/34 in 13 overs), Watson (1/22 in 8 overs) tell a tale of how bowlers can still keep pressure on a dead pitch provided they know their job well. A lesson for Indian bowlers.